Definitions for 2-8-8-2

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2-8-8-2(Noun)

Under the Whyte notation system, a Mallet-type locomotive with two leading wheels on a leading truck, two sets of eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels on a trailing truck.

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2-8-8-2

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A 2-8-8-2, in the Whyte notation for describing steam locomotive wheel arrangements, is an articulated locomotive with a two-wheel leading truck, two sets of eight driving wheels, and a two-wheel trailing truck. The equivalent UIC classification is, refined to Mallet locomotives, D1'. These locomotives usually employ the Mallet principles of articulation--with the rear engine rigidly attached to the boiler and the front engine free to rotate--and compounding. The 2-8-8-2 was a design largely limited to American locomotive builders.
Other equivalent classifications are:
UIC classification: 1DD1
French classification: 140+041
Turkish classification: 45+45
Swiss classification: 4/5+4/5
The first 2-8-8-2 was built in 1909 by Baldwin, who sold two to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and then three each to the Union Pacific Railroad and UP-owned Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. Baldwin conceived the type as an expansion of the 2-6-6-2 permitting a greater tractive effort.
The next order for the type was from the Southern Pacific; these differed in being cab forward locomotives, so that the crew could have better visibility and breathing in the SP's long tunnels and snow sheds. They were very successful, and SP continued to order cab-forward locomotives, building an eventual fleet of 256 of numerous classes; later cab-forwards were 4-8-8-2s.